It's All About The Foodhttp://allaboutthefood.org
by Pat SmithFri, 04 Aug 2017 14:04:34 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.1http://allaboutthefood.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/12243036_1692255374345427_4042033435029267783_n-1-150x150.jpgIt's All About The Foodhttp://allaboutthefood.org
3232111471569The Magic – God’s Little Backup Planshttp://allaboutthefood.org/2017/08/the-magic-gods-little-backup-plans/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/08/the-magic-gods-little-backup-plans/#respondFri, 04 Aug 2017 13:57:43 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=822Continue reading →]]>Do you actually enjoy a crisis? Half of my automobile trunk is taken up with an actual spare tire on an actual wheel rim. Why? Because the idea of being out in the middle of nowhere with a no spare (or even a donut tire) makes my stomach hurt. Always a good idea to have a plan B.

We all know what happens when we don’t have a back up plan. The car has a flat and you have NO spare. You are out of gas without a nickel to your name. Your cell phone battery is dead and you need to make a call RIGHT NOW. The guests you invited for a last minute party have previous commitments. On “the horns of a dilemma” as my mother used to say. What to do?

In the grand scheme of things, these are minor dilemmas that you have to consciously deal with yourself. But what goes on in your magical body is major stuff and it is prepared to handle whatever happens in some pretty amazing ways without your conscious involvement at all. In fact, one of the remarkable things about the human body is the number of plan B’s, alternative strategies programmed in to help assure that stuff essential for one more day is available at all times.

As It’s All About the Food explains, certain nutrients like vitamin B12 and vitamin A are essential on a daily basis. The source of vitamin B12 is meat and the infinite programmer did not expect meat to be readily available at all times. So the body was designed to include substantial storage of vitamin B12. In other words, there is a backup supply to accommodate a shortage of meat.

Vitamin A is another essential nutrient also available in meat but, in this case, the backup plan is different. Beta carotene in plants is readily converted by your clever body into vitamin A. But perhaps the most amazing plan b has to do with energy. This is actually plan b, c, d, e, etc. because without energy the party is over pretty quickly.

Primary Energy Sources

There are just two primary energy alternatives, glucose (as in sugar) and fat, but lots of ways to get both. The most obvious source of glucose and fat is food. The body keeps some glucose, say about a day’s worth, in short term backup storage. So if you don’t eat today this backup supply keeps you going. If for some reason there is nothing but fat (as in meat) available, not to worry. Dietary fat works just as well to provide energy to your body cells.

In fact, you can alternate energy from glucose to fat and back throughout the day and night. If necessary your body can convert some of the protein you eat into glucose and, in a real crisis, will convert the protein in your muscles to glucose. This is what happens during starvation of any kind, whether that is lost on a desert island or all of your body resources are being consumed by cancer. These are not things you want to have happen, of course, but your body will always do whatever is required to keep you alive longer.

Back-up Energy Sources

And then there is the ever not-so-popular back up supply of energy (fat) layered onto your body. That fat got there in two simple ways.

When the amount of sugar (all forms) in your diet exceeds what the body cells will accept for energy and glucose storage, the excess gets turned into saturated fat by your liver and delivered to your fat cells for storage.

When the amount of fat in your diet exceeds the fat and energy requirements of your body cells, the excess fat moves straight away into your fat cells.

In other words, everything we consume has to go somewhere and body fat is the destination of last resort when it comes to energy.

Note here that the body uses lots of different fats (fatty acids) which may or not be consumed in your meals. But another backup plan accommodates those needs. The liver just converts saturated fat into whatever kind of fat it needs. The one exception to this rule is two forms of essential omega 3 fatty acid found primarily in animal sources like meat, fish, milk, eggs, etc. You have to eat these two fats..

Can we just burn up body fat?

Yes, indeed, if the circumstances are right. Your body uses body fat for energy when you are in a “fasting” state, when not eating, AND the amount of insulin in your blood stream is low. The liver calls out body fat and converts into the third, less common and final source of energy, ketones. The ketones are available for a defined period of time and any not used for immediate energy requirements disappear in the form of oxygen and water. So if you ever wondered where body fat goes when you lose weight, now you know. It just vanishes. Poof!

You must admit this is downright magical. However, the system breaks down very quickly when the amount of body fat grows by leaps and bounds and the amount of insulin in your blood remains high. Body fat stays firmly in place, ketones are not created. In other words, the limiting factor in weight loss is insulin.

Insulin and Insulin Resistance

Insulin is the storage hormone manufactured by your pancreas. Glucose, fat, and protein all require insulin to move them into the body cells for storage. Trouble actually starts when insulin levels are too high, a condition that results from insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is just like it sounds – body cells are resistant to insulin and blocking entry. This can happen for a variety of reasons.

A primary reason is consuming more “energy” than your body needs. The body cells don’t need that extra energy and refuse to let the glucose in. “Don’t need anything right now, come back later.” This is Insulin resistance in action. In today’s world excess energy consumption is usually the result of a high carbohydrate, processed food diet. This is explained in It’s All About the Foodin some detail.

Thus begins an ugly cycle. In the presence of excess insulin, the body cells develop even more resistance in direct response. In truth, the body abhors an excess of anything.

Troublesome commercial dietary fats, trans fats, clog cell insulin receptors, creating resistance. Receptors are windows into cells. Its one thing when a cell is full and there isn’t room for more fuel. Its another thing when the windows are effectively closed.

What about fructose? Fructose in the diet does not directly create energy or trigger insulin release; rather it is processed by the liver into fat. The amount of fructose in fruit is usually no big deal. But commercial processed sources come in excess, resulting in too much fat in and around the liver and nearby organs. So while the fructose does not create resistance by itself, the resulting fat does. This is when diet becomes particularly important as commercially processed food products are the sources of both.

As explained in the book, diet frequently creates illness. Illness of any kind generates inflammation as the immune system tries to fix the problem. The body sends out a signal, “Glucose will be needed here at this inflammation point (like your kidney, or even a broken leg, as examples) so don’t be using up any glucose elsewhere.” Bang, the other body cells refuse to accept glucose, insulin resistance and higher levels of insulin in the blood stream.

Auto-immune conditions like lupus, arthritis, Crohns disease, etc. (conditions where the immune system goes rogue and attacks some part of the body) need to be treated, most commonly with steroids. Steroidal treatments, and in fact most medications, increase insulin resistance, driving blood sugar to sometimes extraordinary levels. High blood sugar always results from insulin resistance.

Cortisol, the stress hormone, also does a fine job of increasing insulin resistance. Crisis! Energy required quickly. This is the stuff that surges forward in your body when you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, with a flat tire and no spare. Or when you are awakened from a deep sleep by the sound of breaking glass. Or you are going through a nasty divorce. Consequently, ongoing levels of stress will result in surging blood sugar and insulin. So, of course, stress and weight gain often go hand in hand.

So there you have it.

Two things you can probably count on. Folks with ongoing levels of excess insulin will gain and not lose weight until they bring their insulin levels under control. Folks with ongoing high blood sugar are or will become diabetic. Put these folks together and you find that 80% of diabetics are overweight and plagued with the conditions causing insulin resistance listed above.

Obviously a divorce doesn’t (usually) have anything to do with food. For most people, this is mostly a diet thing. I encourage you to read It’s All About the Food and learn more about how to avoid diet related illness. Let the magic happen for you again!

]]>http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/08/the-magic-gods-little-backup-plans/feed/0822Quick and Nutritious Breakfast for the Busy Momhttp://allaboutthefood.org/2017/07/quick-and-nutritious-breakfast-for-the-busy-mom/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/07/quick-and-nutritious-breakfast-for-the-busy-mom/#respondThu, 20 Jul 2017 17:41:53 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=810Continue reading →]]>Mom, is getting breakfast for children (and yourself) the biggest test of your day? Whew! Does the challenge result in quick bowls of box cereal (or pop tarts) because, forget it, nobody has time to scramble eggs? The bummer is that quick bowls of box cereal (and the pop tarts) are simply instant sugar with essentially no nutritional value, lasting about an hour before hunger sets in once again. Mom, here is the answer to your prayers.

I spent literally days online looking at recipes for overnight oats. There seem to be a thousand experts out there. I found cool recipes that took too much time and/or included a lot of expensive ingredients. I found special recipes designed for vegans, people who just had to have organic ingredients, or some folks who tried to make overnight “oats” without actually using oats (the ingredient list is looooong and oh so expensive).

My goal was to find the easiest, quickest, least expensive recipe that would still be nutritious and tasty while warding off hunger. I ended up blending the best ideas together into one recipe for you to try.

Overnight Oats

Basic ingredients (per serving)

½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup of water

A pinch of salt

Put the oats in a container whenever you have time. Pint mason jars or leftover peanut butter jars work well for individual servings. Add the pinch of salt and then the water. Stir it up, put on the lid, and tuck it away in the refrigerator overnight. By morning the oats will have absorbed all the liquid.

You may make a week’s worth of servings at one time.

Toppings:

Prepare the toppings you want to add to the oats before serving. These might include:

Come morning, add the honey (if you choose) and stir the oat mix briskly. Add whole milk or plain, full fat yogurt until the consistency of the oats suits you (or your children). Add fruit on top and then the chopped nuts. Pass out the spoons.

Additional Thoughts:

Containers: The mason jars look kinda special, are handy, and may be entertaining for kids. But you could use Tupperware containers or even bowls. You can make a big batch at one time but then you add time to dole out the servings and another container to wash..

Oats: Why rolled oats? Rolled oats contain complex sugar in the form of starch. Instead of becoming instant sugar, the starch breaks down slowly, providing an ongoing supply of energy. Refined grains (as ground up in breakfast cereal or instant oatmeal) digest immediately. A child who eats this recipe may well last until lunch without being overcome with hunger.

Do not use instant oats. They are instant sugar just like the box cereal and will simply turn to watery mush. If you want to try steel cut oats, go for it. But they will be mighty crunchy and they cost more.

Water: Using water allows you to make several days’ worth of oats at the same time. If you use milk instead of water, you will be limited to making servings for one or two days.

Salt: Salt may not sound important but it is really is. A pinch is a pinch.

Honey: For me the natural sugar in the fruit is all that is needed. Suggest you try that first and see how it goes over. If necessary, stir the honey into the oat mixture before adding the fruit.

Fruit: Of course there are lots of fruit options, some of which are significantly more expensive than others. If fresh fruit is not available or affordable, then go for frozen because frozen fruit can be stored in the freezer for a good long time.

Flavorings: If you are a baker in a less busy life, you probably know the flavorings best fitted to certain fruit. Go for them.

Nuts: Any nuts (peanuts are the least good choice) can be chopped but remember this. It only takes a few nuts to add crunch.

Hot or Cold: Most people eat these oats cold, especially in the summer. But if you or your children find warm oats more appealing, pop the oatmeal mix into the microwave for a few seconds, as many as you find achieves the best heat level. Then stir in the milk/yogurt and top with the fruit.

Full fat milk or plain yogurt: One of the goals of this recipe is to ward off hunger. Hunger is caused by rapidly digesting sugar but fat also matters. Beyond the vitamins in the fat (this is the nutrition part), the fat is also filling and a hunger suppressor. If you are determined to only have low/no fat milk in your house, then consider getting some plain, full fat yogurt and use it just for this recipe. And if you use plain Greek yogurt, it will have much less natural sugar in it. Another benefit of yogurt is the probiotic value which is not present in milk.

Probiotics are good bacteria that help get your gut healthy. That’s another story.

Don’t be tricked into using flavored yogurt. Sugar including artificial sweeteners is added and thus actually contributes to hunger. Plain, full fat yogurt. Let the fruit provide the flavor.

Digestibility: Some people, including children, will have digestion problems with grains due to the complex protective structure of the grain and the absence of the enzyme phytase necessary to break that structure down. (See more below under Overall Nutrition and Nutritional Deficiencies). Digestive problems are easy to identify – things like stomach ache, gas, bloating, etc.

Overall Nutrition and Nutritional Deficiencies

Anybody who has read It’s All about the Foodknows that chapter 13 is about phytic acid. Phytic acid locks away some portion of valuable minerals (calcium, iron, and magnesium as examples) contained in the grain and makes the grain difficult for most people to digest. But there are actually other proteins in grains (glutens, lectins, etc.) that can make the digestion thing even more difficult.

Phytic acid isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It serves an important purpose by absorbing excess and toxic minerals in your body. Therefore, the issue is more about volume, personal digestibility, and nutrient deficiency.

Oats are not alone in this phytic acid, mineral “lock up” thing. All whole grains, legumes (beans), nuts, and seeds are equally limited – although grain generally has the most. Look at it this way. These are all seeds for new plants, seeds that Mother Nature meant for reproduction and not necessarily as food for animals. It is possible to make them edible without penalty but it takes some work.

When it comes to beans (legumes) it isn’t hard to free up the minerals and improve digestibility. Chapter 13 explains how to do that. Grain, on the other hand, is much tougher. So it is troublesome that grain is the largest component of most children’s diets these days.

If digestion is not the issue, then you can compensate for any mineral “shortfall” in the oatmeal by augmenting the meal with extra nutrition. So the rolled oats, the milk/yogurt, and the fruit are all important parts of this breakfast. Despite any mineral shortfall, oats are still the winner in comparison to refined boxed cereal which has essentially no nutrition at all.

One meal a day nutritionally limited by phytic acid is usually not a big deal. On the other hand, if every meal is nutritionally limited by the perpetual presence of grain in the diet, then trouble may be brewing.

Refined grains as in white bread, pie crust, cake and cookie mixes, pasta, grits, taco chips, tortillas, etc. don’t have a problem with phytic acid. This is not cause for celebration, however. The minerals locked up in phytic acid reside in the most nutritious layers of the grain (the bran and germ). The bran and the germ are ground off in refining, leaving essentially only the sugar. Repeat after me – HUNGRY.

If digestion IS a problem there are two options. One option is to simply remove grain from the diet. But another possibility is to introduce supplemental enzymes containing phytase with each meal containing grain. Hogs have digestive systems similar to ours and do not make the enzyme phytase. Commercial hog farms who feed their hogs grain supplement their food with the enzyme phytase. You can do the same.

A pharmacy, health food store, on-line, and sometimes even a large grocery store will have enzyme supplements. Read the list of enzymes and assure that phytase is on the list. Consider limiting the number of meals containing grain to minimize the expense of this alternative.

]]>http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/07/quick-and-nutritious-breakfast-for-the-busy-mom/feed/0810Diet or Exercise, Which is It?http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/07/diet-or-exercise-which-is-it/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/07/diet-or-exercise-which-is-it/#respondSat, 08 Jul 2017 17:52:29 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=802Continue reading →]]>“Listen,” a friend whispered to me, “the fitness guy at my gym once told me that exercise has nothing to do with weight loss. Like he said, you can’t overcome a bad diet with exercise. Is that right?”

Yep, he’s right!.

In a recent newspaper article and post, I explained how the combination of carbohydrates (sugar) and fat in your diet is responsible for excess fat hanging around on your body. But some people just don’t want to hear that. Surely there must be another way!

So instead some think (hope) all they have to do to lose weight is to exercise, jog a few miles a day or walk 10,000 steps. Go to the gym and lift heavy weights. Too many people watching the Biggest Loser think exercise is the big deal and it has to be extreme. Willing to do an extraordinary amount of work to avoid fixing their diet.

Other people aren’t quite so willing to do hard work and are overwhelmed with “extreme.” So they just abandon the idea of losing weight. No hope!

Fact is, for the average person like you and me, exercising isn’t likely to have a big impact on losing weight one way or another. But that doesn’t mean exercise isn’t important.

Moving your body is critical to your health. Without exercise your muscles become flabby and weak. Your balance suffers, making you susceptible to falls. Your heart and lungs don’t function efficiently. Joints get stiff and are easily injured. Endurance suffers. You are stressed, not sleeping well, don’t have energy or feel good.. You are aging much more quickly.

I personally don’t find those conditions attractive and doubt that you do either. So my message to you is this — get off the couch and start moving. Just do it for the right reasons because weight loss isn’t one of them.

The question is, how much “moving.”? And the answer is, more than you are moving now.

If you just struggled (is that a real word?) your way up off the couch, “more” might mean walking around the house, around the block, to the mail box a few times a day. In Mount Ida or other communities with an agricultural extension service, “more” might be attending the Extension Get Fit classes 3 days a week. Join with friendly people and learn to add light weights to your regular “exercise” routine. In Mount Ida, the extension service office number is 870-867-2311.

Use your imagination. The goal is to move.

As you grow stronger extend that walk to a mile or even more, start carrying your own groceries, climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator, dance to your favorite oldie in your own home. Exercising for the couch potato or the handicapped is an evolution, not a revolution. If you know anyone who has been to rehab after an injury, you have watched them build strength slowly over time.

I have been there. After a serious illness and coma, I couldn’t walk, get out of bed, or even sit up on my own. After rehab those abilities were restored, slowly and not over night. But they came back. This can work for you as well.

The next question, is your weight as measured by your bathroom scale the most important? Nope, that’s not right.

Technically, muscle is heavier than body fat BUT the same weight in body fat takes up more space. The space consumed by your fat determines the size clothes you wear. And you have to confess, it’s really how you look in your clothes that matters to you.

This is an inches thing, not a weight thing. This is the amount of space your body is taking up in this world. It is possible to lose inches and clothes sizes with only a small amount of actual “weight loss” as measured by your scales. Fix your diet, drag out the tape measure, get off your duff and move around.

The thing that reduces body fat and prevents adding more body fat is a good diet every day as a matter of course. The thing that builds and tones muscles, reduces stress, slows the aging process, and generally improves your whole outlook on life is some exercise every day as a matter of course.

“Every day” means ongoing. If you go on a “diet”, lose 10 lbs, celebrate and go off the “diet” that ten pounds will come back with a few extra bonus pounds. if you get off the couch for a few weeks and then sit back down, the strength gained simply fades away.

Fix your diet, drag out the tape measure, get off your duff and move around.

Pat Smith is the author of “It’s All About the Food,” a book that guides nutritious food choices as the way to avoid illness and maintain a healthy weight. Pat is a resident of Montgomery County, AR: president of Ouachita Village, Inc .board of directors (Montgomery County Food Pantry): chairman of the Tasty Acre project: and member of the Mount Ida Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

]]>http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/07/diet-or-exercise-which-is-it/feed/0802It’s the combination of dietary sugar and fat.http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/how-to-lose-weight/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/how-to-lose-weight/#respondThu, 29 Jun 2017 19:47:03 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=605Continue reading →]]>First of all, this is not a discussion of meat. Meat is rarely a contributor to weight problems. The blame for your excess body fat can be placed squarely on the combination of dietary sugar and fat. Not just sugar alone. Not just fat alone. Both together!.

Body fat is storage of excess energy. The two sources of energy for the human body, the stuff that keeps your brain going, lets you walk down the street, etc.are sugar and fat. Too little of both and you will lack energy. Too much of both and you will eventually be fatter.

Sugar

Sugar actually comes in four (4) versions In the American diet. All four versions originate in plants growing in the ground. Everything that grows in the ground is chock full of sugar, called carbohydrates, along with varying levels of vitamins, minerals, fats, etc.

Version one includes the simple vegetables like spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, avocado, etc. These are vegetables that can be eaten raw or cooked and the best sources of fiber. Generally speaking these are very low carb (sugar) vegetables that digest very quickly.

Version two includes starches like potatoes, beans, and various grains which require cooking to be edible. Starches have lots of sugar in complex form and, when eaten whole, take longer to digest.

That’s it for natural, whole plant food. Now we swoop down on the other two versions.

Version three is the commercially processed version of the starches (usually grain) in Version two. The processing consists of extracting certain parts, grinding the food up; applying high heat, chemical treatments/additions; thus creating a whole new product that has lost the initial value. Vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in food are very sensitive to heat and the nutrients tend to be lost. These food products would primarily be the wheat and corn products contained in almost every sack and box at your grocery store. Extractions of grain and sometimes potato starch are also found in various jars, cans, and bottles – stuff like soups, soy sauce, etc. The stuff is everywhere.

One advantage of Version two starches is longer digestion time which prevents the automatic hunger that occurs with rapidly digesting sugar. That advantage is lost in Version three. Thus we have a lot of carb (sugar) digesting very quickly with little nutritional value.

Version four is refined sugar, usually but not always extracted from beets. No redeeming value whatsoever in refined sugar but lots of it gets added to the processed products in Version three as well as the stuff you bake at home. Think sweets..

Add cream/milk/eggs/etc. to flour, it rises beautifully, fluffy and light. Then you ADD more fat. Do you put butter on bread? Have you ever cooked pasta and eaten it straight up? Even your favorite marinara sauce will have oil in it. Macaroni isn’t much punk unless it has cheese. Thicken fat with flour or corn (starch) and you get gravy. Do you eat grits, rice, or potatoes (all starches) without fat of some kind? Unlikely.

Comfort Foods

Bottom line is that the real danger to a slim/trim body is the COMBINATION of starch and fat — because these are the true southern comfort foods.

The government and American Diabetes Association (ADA) say the way to lose weight is to cut calories, eat lots of carbs and low-fat. That approach will work for many people, at least for a while. Sugar and fat are the essential calorie (energy) sources in food and fat has more calories per gram than sugar. So on the surface that seems to make sense.

But I assure you that high carb and low-fat isn’t comfort food. And high carb digesting quickly will keep you hungry. When you are hungry what do you do? You eat, even if there is plenty of spare energy wrapped around your waist. And the comfort value in the low-fat food you might eat is minimal..This explains why most people won’t stick to it forever. The fat is just too important. So eventually you are back to high carb and high fat.

So if high carb/low-fat isn’t very satisfying, leaves you hungry, and tends to fail long-term, what is the answer? The answer is the reverse – low carb and higher fat. What that really means is eating mostly Version one simple vegetables with a smattering of Version two and enough healthy fat to make the food tasty. This is easier than you might think.

Cheesy cauliflower (or practically any other vegetable) casserole. Mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes. Smaller portions of red potatoes. Oven roasted vegetables tossed in olive oil. Spaghetti squash instead of pasta. These can all be seasoned your favorite way, just as you would the “real thing”.

Does this mean that birthday cakes are out? Not necessarily so long as you realize that these are useless high carb/high fat calories with essentially no nutritional value. As long you just have cake on a birthday (in small portion) and not daily or even weekly. This would be an occasional “treat”. How many birthdays do you have per year?

Does that mean that cereal and honey buns are out? Yes it does. Because those will inevitably become daily staples.

Healthy Fats?

Commercially processed fats, primarily those extracted from grain and legumes such as corn, soybean, canola, peanut, etc. are unhealthy. They fit into the category of “processed” at high heat including application of toxic chemicals. They are unstable and very susceptible to oxidation. And there are other good reasons not to use them. If you want to know more about this, please read my book, It’s All about the Food.

The healthy fats are extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil – preferably extracted without heat. Avocado oil has a high smoke point and is best for cooking above medium (350 degrees) temperature. .

Will this be a Hard Diet Change?

Anything different takes some effort. Any particular difficulty will depend on whether you are carb “addicted”, susceptible to feelings of withdrawal. If this is you, you probably get a knot in your throat even thinking about not eating bread. Thing is, your weight is tied to your diet and you have to change that.

Alcoholics are addicted. They would like all the problems associated with alcoholism to go away without giving up alcohol. Won’t work for them and won’t work for you. Give me a holler if you need suggestions.

Pat Smith is the author of “It’s All About the Food,” a book that guides nutritious food choices as the way to avoid illness and maintain a healthy weight. Pat is a resident of Montgomery County, AR: president of Ouachita Village, Inc .board of directors (Montgomery County Food Pantry): chairman of the Tasty Acre project: and member of the Mount Ida Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

]]>http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/how-to-lose-weight/feed/0605Is Alzheimer’s Preventable?http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/is-alzheimers-preventable/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/is-alzheimers-preventable/#respondSun, 11 Jun 2017 19:24:24 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=777Continue reading →]]>Unfortunately, diabetes doesn’t scare some people. But Alzheimer’s certainly does. So when you see that Alzheimer’s is a form of diabetes affecting the brain, then you may decide to pay more attention. Because particularly in cases of type 2 diabetes, prevention is almost always possible.

“We conclude that the term “type 3 diabetes” accurately reflects the fact that AD represents a form of diabetes that selectively involves the brain and has molecular and biochemical features that overlap with both type 1 diabetes mellitus and T2DM.”

The above is a quote from a National Institute of Health article readable in full here. .

By Dr. Mercola

Story at-a-glance

An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, and an estimated 600,000 more may suffer from an often misdiagnosed subtype called “hippocampal sparing” Alzheimer’s

Since there’s no conventional cure, the issue of prevention is absolutely critical if you want to avoid becoming an Alzheimer’s statistic. Evidence points to lifestyle factors, primarily diet, as the driving forces of dementia

Fat avoidance and carbohydrate overconsumption are at the heart of the Alzheimer’s epidemic

Risk of Alzheimer’s is doubled in type 2 diabetics. Alzheimer’s has even been dubbed “type 3 diabetes,” as the disease involves a lack of brain-produced insulin

Heart disease also increases your risk of dementia, as arterial stiffness is associated with the buildup of beta-amyloid plaque in your brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease

]]>http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/is-alzheimers-preventable/feed/0777My personal story with autoimmune diseasehttp://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/my-personal-story-with-autoimmune-disease/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/my-personal-story-with-autoimmune-disease/#respondThu, 08 Jun 2017 23:30:22 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=452Continue reading →]]>I am not a doctor and thank my lucky stars that I am not. The pressure must be intense. Instead I am among a much smaller group of scientists, doctors, and laymen who care more about preventing illness than treating it. None the less, some of us reach a point when doctors get full credit for saving our lives. We reach a point where prevention is no longer an option.

Here is my story, some of which was garnered in conversation with doctors, family, and friends. Because I was in la-la land.

On the afternoon of January 13, 2000, I left my office in Overland Park, KS, feeling really awful. I do remember that. Near midnight after a severe bout of bloody diarrhea my husband took me to the emergency room. I was unconscious to the world before I was even put in an evaluation room. Multiple doctors later I was diagnosed with TTP, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. This was not a well known condition and they held training sessions for the floor nurses; they had never heard of it.

As an FYI, TTP now shows up as a side effect of certain medications advertised on television. Since I have first hand knowledge of this “side effect” it hurts me that anyone would even suggest using a medication that might actually cause it.

TTP is most often an autoimmune condition, the immune system creates antibodies attacking an enzyme in the blood coagulation system causing tiny blood clots to form in the small blood vessels throughout the body. These clots cause rupture of red blood cells and damage to organs in the body. The understanding of how this condition develops was published in 1998, only two years before I grew ill.

Generally speaking TTP comes in three forms, one of which is genetically inherited and very rare. I didn’t have that one. Otherwise there is an idiopathic and secondary form. Color me idiopathic. In case the word idiopathic doesn’t compute for you, let me help. It means we don’t know where it came from (what caused the autoimmune reaction) and we don’t know where it went. So you can understand why I was on full alert for many years before I became satisfied that it wasn’t coming back.

Untreated, TTP is a death sentence. The cure was daily replacement of my blood plasma, some 40 plus times in my case, until the blood no longer showed evidence of autoimmune antibodies. And I was given steroids to suppress the immune system. They simply flush out the plasma (including the antibodies and shot blood cells) and replace it with fresh frozen plasma. The hospital did not have the equipment for plasmapherisis and instead used equipment intended for kidney dialysis. Remember, TTP was very uncommon.

About 45 days after I was admitted I woke up, my first words being, “Can someone tell me what’s going on here.” I can imagine me saying that. Whatever they told me didn’t stick because I couldn’t even remember the time of day. 45 days in a coma kinda messes with your mind and physical capabilities and rehab was required before I could even sit up unaided.

In July of that year i officially retired from a 38 year career in the telecommunications industry and moved to Mount Ida, Arkansas. I have good news and bad news.

First the good news. I really do love Mount Ida. Further, the organ damage possible, including kidney damage which was most feared, has not appeared. Thank you, Lord. The bad news is that I have residual high blood pressure, a condition I never had before I was sick. I also have type 2 diabetes. Admittedly my diet and genetics predisposed me for diabetes but I believe that the steroids kicked me over the edge. I also have diabetic neuropathy, damage to nerves in my feet. This damage is not fun. Further, I have cataracts which commonly occur for those who had extensive treatment with steroids. Steroids are often the first course of action to suppress the immune system and any diabetic can tell you what happens to their blood sugar when taking steroids.

Generally speaking, autoimmune diseases like arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, (and the list goes on) are not curable so I am very blessed. Once the autoimmune condition appears, your best bet is to prevent ongoing attacks by identifying and avoiding the factor(s) that engage the attacks. Since my book went to press, my continuing research reinforces that food and environmental factors are almost always the major causes. My research also shows that attending to those causes can prevent most autoimmune conditions in the first place.

I recently posted this blog, What to do about arthritis flares!, that talks about some of these factors and provides a long laundry list of autoimmune diseases. The post includes links to sources and doctors imminently qualified to help people with autoimmune diseases. Please click on the link and read more if you or a family member are in any danger.

Why is this important? Because if you can avoid activating an autoimmune condition in the first place or at least know how to prevent attacks, you can sidestep or minimize the inevitable consequences. I am cured of TTP but instead have diabetes, neuropathy, and high blood pressure. Please learn from my experience.

]]>http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/06/my-personal-story-with-autoimmune-disease/feed/0452What to do about pain RIGHT NOW?http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/05/what-to-do-about-pain/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/05/what-to-do-about-pain/#respondMon, 29 May 2017 22:22:15 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=677Continue reading →]]>DO YOUR FRIENDS A FAVOR AND SEND THEM THIS POST.

Surprise! I’m not going to talk about food, at least not directly.

My book, It’s All about the Food, is about how the right foods can make you healthy and how the wrong foods “don’t”. But sometimes, just sometimes, what makes us healthy (not sick) is less important than what to do about pain RIGHT NOW.

A few days I was stopped by “Mike” with a question. “What can I do about this headache I keep getting?” The headaches, caused by nerve damage in his neck he said, just weren’t responding to the over the counter drug he was taking a lot of. Between the nerve damage and the headaches, he was miserable.

He was miserable and I was, quite frankly, frightened for him.

So what causes pain? The answer is inflammation and swelling, always impacting nerves and causing pain. The most popular treatments are drugs like Aleve, Motrin, and Advil, all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) found on the shelf at your drugstore and sometimes prescribed in larger doses by doctors – that stuff that Mike was taking. I’ll bet you have some in your house right now.

There are some potentially ugly, possibly deadly consequences attached to NSAIDS. But don’t take my word for it. Let me give you real examples of real people.

John (not his real name), a long time resident of Montgomery County, has arthritis in his spine causing extreme pain as well as numbness/weakness in his legs. While various doctors and surgeons considered surgical alternatives over a long period of time, John popped NSAIDs on a regular basis every day. Last October he was rushed to the hospital with serious bleeding caused by, you guessed it, all those pills he popped. His doctor’s instructions; “Never take any of those again”.

John has since had surgery that resolved the pain in his legs, leaving him still with lower back pain. He says, now, that the therapy that has helped the most is physical rehab, strengthening his core muscles. And he is taking Tylenol, not an NSAID but could do damage to his liver and has to be monitored. Drugs of any kind have consequences.

Jane, on the other hand, has lived in MC for less than a year. Many years ago her job involved reading tiny little print on paper. The eye strain gave her perpetual headaches and the NSAID bottle sat right on her desk for easy access. During treatment for another health condition the doctors noted deterioration in kidney function. That deterioration continued until she was eventually on daily dialysis with 1% kidney function, waiting desperately for a kidney transplant.

Six years passed before that kidney came along, including 24 surgeries in one year. She will be on steroids and drugs to keep her immune system from rejecting her transplanted kidney for the rest of her life. Jane has residual nerve pain from the dialysis and surgeries. She just deals with it.

Mary, an old friend of my daughter, was not as fortunate as John and Jane. She died from kidney failure caused again by NSAIDs. Mary was a personal trainer and did weight training. The good news was she built muscle which always causes inflammation and soreness. That is just the way it works. The really bad news was that she popped NSAIDs trying to make that soreness go away and she died as a result.

Over the last several years the FDA has issued warnings about the potential for heart attacks and stroke caused by NSAIDs and removed at least one drug from the market. The examples I am sharing here show damage beyond the heart. So maybe you want to know how NSAIDs work.

NSAIDs block enzymes (Cox1 and 2 to be precise) ) involved in several ways in keeping blood vessels relaxed, avoiding blood clotting, and protecting the stomach/small intestine tract (otherwise known as the gastrointestinal tract). In other words, the action of these enzymes is important to your body and you have to consider the implications of blocking them.

Inflammation is not necessarily a bad thing. It is the body’s way of initiating healing. But there is also pain. So the (sort of) good news is that this inhibition of Cox enzymes stops the development of inflammation and associated pain.

The bad news is that it tightens blood vessels, raises blood pressure, reduces blood flow to the heart and kidneys, and can cause ulcers and other gastrointestinal problems. I may have already mentioned this; all drugs have unintended consequences.

You have big arteries carrying blood in and out of the heart. You have smaller vessels carrying blood in and out of the kidneys, liver, etc. you have really tiny capillaries in your feet, hands, brain, etc. I think you can see how potentially detrimental slowing/interfering with blood flow might be.

It appears that the occasional one dose of an NSAID might not be a problem. But chronic, ongoing usage is clearly dangerous. Better to find natural ways to avoid/eliminate chronic inflammation and the inevitable pain.

For starters, your diet really does matter. Chapters 6 and 7 in It’s All about the Food are specific to causes and avoidance of chronic inflammation. But once you are in pain, I’m betting you will think that doing something about it NOW is the most important.

John found that building his core muscles took the pressure off of his lower back and reduced pain. Jane learned that she could just “deal with it.” I have a couple of friends with fibromyalgia who found that acupuncture would give significant relief and this may have potential for Jane as well.

I know many people who find that simple turmeric (the seasoning) is a very effective anti inflammatory/pain reliever. In fact there is a Turmeric Users Facebook page with about 35,000 members. There are other herbs that provide relief for some.

It may take some research on your part but if your pain is chronic, try to find the source of the problem. And be diligent in avoiding NSAIDs for chronic pain.

I learned this week that another friend has cancer, reminding me once again that cancer is ugly and devious. Treating active cancer is a battle.

Gardeners, this is very much like the battle of the squash beetles in your vegetable garden. If you catch them at the very first sign you can save your crop pretty easily. But once they run rampant there may be no effective treatment and your plants will eventually die. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure both in gardening and cancer. .

In my most recent published article, Technology is Making a Difference in Cancer, I applauded the amazing progress happening in cancer treatments. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t painful, both physically and financially. And, worse yet, all that pain is no guarantee of success. Cancer is ugly and devious. Not fair but true.

This fact makes it so obvious that the answer is in prevention. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

In March of last year, I posted another article entitled “Treat and Prevent Cancer.” Click on the link and watch an excellent video covering all the bases. If there is any fear in your heart about cancer, watch that video.

One of the most potent prevention strategies lies in what we eat. Why? Because the nutrients in the food you are (or aren’t) eating are absolutely essential for the cell and DNA repair that keeps cancer from starting.

As pointed out in both the referenced articles, cancer develops from cells that are damaged. The trillions and trillions of cells in your body have a short life span and are in a constant state of replacement. It is impossible to avoid damaged cells.

Chemical toxins in your world and just being alive both damage cells. But when things are working correctly in your body damaged cells are either repaired or they die as a natural course in a process called apoptosis or programmed cell death.

If the cell isn’t repaired or doesn’t die, the cell with the damaged DNA will be replicated and the DNA mutation becomes permanent. Cancer is a disease of mutated DNA.

This where the real trouble starts. You aren’t going to see that trouble right away. It can take eight years for a cancer to become pea sized. That means prevention starts NOW, not when the tumor becomes obvious.

So let’s look at some specific nutritional elements that keep our cancer defense mechanisms working at their best.

Programmed cell death is activated by tumor suppressor genes hanging around in your cells looking for damage. Certain phytonutrients with long names present in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, spinach, even arugula all increase the activity of tumor surpressor genes. And, FYI, broccoli is the big winner in that list.

DNA repair requires a group of repair enzymes, all of which need to be coupled with the mineral magnesium in order to work. Magnesium is found in the chlorophyll of green, leafy vegetables, the very same vegetables listed above. Over 50% of Americans are deficient in magnesium and for good reason. We seem to prefer potatoes, preferably fried. When I ask children for examples of vegetables, potato is the first named.

Take note. The magnesium and phytonutrients with a critical role in cancer prevention are in exactly the same vegetables. Replace the processed foods, including sugar, in your diet with as many servings of these vegetables as possible every day. And in case you are wondering where the rest of your vitamins and minerals will come from, rest easy. They are also in the same vegetables. Isn’t nature grand!

Eat right, defend yourself against cancer.

]]>http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/05/an-ounce-of-prevention/feed/0669Technology is Making a Difference in Cancerhttp://allaboutthefood.org/2017/04/technology-is-making-a-difference-in-cancer/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/04/technology-is-making-a-difference-in-cancer/#respondMon, 17 Apr 2017 12:58:36 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=658Continue reading →]]>I monitor research and progress on many chronic diseases including cancer. A lot of good stuff is happening with cancer and this post intends to bring you up to speed. But first let’s start with a little background so the “happenings” will make sense.

Background

Your body has HOW MANY cells? Are you sitting down?

A group of biologists set out to calculate the number of cells in the human body. The estimate is 37.2 trillion cells. Each cell has 23 pairs (46) of chromosomes, two each contributed by each of your parents. Which ones you get, by the way, is totally random.

Each chromosome has between 20,000 and 25,000 genes. Get out your calculator. Go to this link from Stanford at the Tech Museum to learn more about chromosomes.

Your body is constructed of protein and one job of genes is to encode the protein. That is a lot of protein encoding genes carrying the DNA that makes you who you are. Your DNA is a combination of a portion of the genetic makeup of your parents and those genes instruct the construction and maintenance of your body.

Could work like a clock but might not. There are also gene mutations and/or variations that might or might not be troublesome, health wise. With many trillions of genes some things are bound to go wrong. But there is a plan to handle that.

Cell damage

Every second things change in your body. Just breathing and moving around (being alive), environmental toxins, and poor dietary decisions do damage to your cells and their DNA. All those damaged cells and DNA need to be repaired or replaced.

Further, all your cells wear out on a regular basis and are replaced by new ones. In other words no one cell lasts long. The new cells are dependent on your DNA to assure the replacements are exact duplicates – which may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the condition of the cell being duplicated.

It is the DNA mutations, the cell repair/elimination process, along with the duplication process gone awry that is at the heart of cancer. All three going on at the same time.

The plan when things go wrong.

Because things are guaranteed to go wrong, your body has an immune system designed to “see” damage and take steps to repair or, if necessary, eliminate the cell and replace it with a proper cell. Learn much more about your immune system here.

Some people have active and healthy immune systems that are more likely to catch and eliminate a cancer cell before it gets out of hand and replicates itself into a tumor.

Without early detection tumors develop a life of their own, duplicating some really bad cells at breakneck speed, managing to hide from your immune system and using up all the glucose (sugar) energy your body can make available. This post will help you understand that even better. This explains why the first symptom of cancer is often weight loss. Undeterred, cancer can literally eat you alive. .

What’s new in cancer treatment ?

For a long time cancer treatment was limited to surgery to cut out a tumor. Then along came chemotherapy and radiation intended to murder the “parent” tumor but tending to leave “daughter” cells in “hiding” – in other words, borrowing time. Then with the advent of the “human genome project” major cancer treatment centers like Sloan Kettering and others are now completely sequencing the DNA in tumors and working with pharmaceutical companies to create treatments targeted to the DNA mutations found in the tumors.

Cancer cells always contain genetic mutations, sometimes only a few, other times thousands.

Cancer is one word but it isn’t just one disease. In a way, each cancer tumor is a disease unique to its DNA mutations. Where the cancer is located, pancreas or kidney or brain as examples, is sometimes less important than its unique genetic mutations. Advances in technology made possible by the human genome project are making cancer treatment a new world.

All these technological advances have required enormous computer power and amounts of data around patient DNA. Researchers perform clinical trial after trial with existing cancer patients to determine which treatments work and why, with the intent of advancing the “standard of care” employed by oncologists across the country and the world.

Now (finally) a lot of work goes on developing “immunotherapies”, helping the immune system see the cancer and attack it. Real progress!

But perhaps the most exciting technological advance will be the ability to identify cancer DNA through a blood test. Seems that cancer sheds DNA into the blood stream and technology is now making it possible to identify that DNA. This not only informs the doctors about if/how your cancer is continuing to mutate in its struggle to survive (and adjust your treatment accordingly) but also makes it possible to see a cancer before it becomes an advanced tumor.

Researchers believe they will be able to catch and stop the development of a tumor before it can even be seen. In other words, ward off tumor development. The earlier your cancer is identified, the greater the chance of your long term survival.

This potential is enormously important because some tumors, pancreatic as an example, are asymptomatic until they have reached extreme, sometimes impossible to successfully treat stages of growth.

Technological advances are expensive and cancer wins the award for high cost of research and treatment. Why? Because the treatment often is never over but is just delaying the inevitable, ongoing battles as cancer cells continue to mutate in their quest to survive.

Should you just cross your fingers and hope for the best?

As the army used to say, “Hope is not a plan”. Your immune system was designed to do its job very effectively, to identify things that are wrong and fix them. Your contribution is to keep your immune system as healthy as possible.

Those with persistent body inflammation, chronic conditions including autoimmune, persistent introductions of chemical toxins and medications are putting an enormous load on their immune system while failing to provide the nutrition (vitamins and minerals) needed to keep it healthy.

To the largest degree your contribution is in your lifestyle and diet. At the most basic level, your diet should include whole, unprocessed meat protein, fruit, and vegetables and any supplements you obviously need. The damage people do to their bodies and immune systems through diet usually revolves around the processed food substitutions available in sacks, boxes, and bottles on the grocery store shelves. These are foods that carry extreme amounts of sugar and minimal vitamins and minerals.

You can know something is wrong when you have “symptoms”. And so the next error we make is treating symptoms with medication, either prescriptions or off the pharmacy shelf, instead of figuring out what is causing the symptoms. As already said, we are all different. What food or chemical causes me no problem may be troublesome for you.

Once you have cancer you can also help with diet, minimizing consumption of the one and only fuel source your cancer cells can use – sugar. This post, Can We Eat to Starve Cancer, will help you. This post, Prevent and Treat Cancer, introduces the concept of alternative cancer treatments in greater depth. Meat and vegetables have the least sugar, fruit and all processed food especially including “sweets” have a lot.

My book, It’s All about the Food, can help you with a plan for healthy eating. There are other books and internet sources to help with autoimmune diseases and dietary strategies to help with your cancer battle.

]]>http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/04/technology-is-making-a-difference-in-cancer/feed/0658I am so sick of being sick!http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/03/i-am-so-sick-of-being-sick/
http://allaboutthefood.org/2017/03/i-am-so-sick-of-being-sick/#respondWed, 22 Mar 2017 19:14:34 +0000http://allaboutthefood.org/?p=634Continue reading →]]>I had lunch with a new acquaintance, Martha, a couple months ago. Our acquaintance began when all the tables in the restaurant were full and she graciously invited me to join her. She was a lovely and friendly lady and we liked each other right away. Conversations can get interesting when two people like each other and this conversation certainly did. She told me how sick she was of being sick.

For a year or so she had symptoms that just came and went. Her doctor first diagnosed some sort of flu because she had “flu-like” symptoms. The doctor said diagnostic flu tests can’t be trusted and he gave her some medicine to treat the fever and headache. Then the symptoms went away. And then they came back.

So then the doctor decided that she must have a bacterial infection and gave her an antibiotic. That didn’t work either. Over several more months the flu-like symptoms morphed into swelling, pain in her joints, persistent fatigue, and a nasty rash. She showed me the rash – which I didn’t really want to see.

Finally she went to a different doctor who diagnosed her as having lupus, an acute chronic autoimmune disease which attacks any organ of the body in unpredictable ways. She was now taking an immune suppressant (she couldn’t remember the name) and just praying it would work because she was sick, sick, sick of being sick.

Her story reminded me of Margaret, a woman with lupus who was the subject of an autoimmune post I did a while back. Margaret said there was no way that food could be causing her condition but she was wrong. So I told Martha about Margaret, including the book that Margaret used to fix herself. She happily wrote down the book, The Autoimmune Solution by Dr. Amy Myers, and we parted ways.

Of course, as soon as I got home I began doing some digging and here is what I learned.

Lupus belongs in the family of (autoimmune) diseases that includes rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes, and scleroderma.

Lupus is particularly hard to diagnose because it can target any tissue or organ in the body, including skin, muscles, joints, blood and blood vessels, lungs, heart, kidneys, and the brain.

There are multiple genetic variations (polymorphisms) that can converge negatively and create the potential for this disease. More variations are likely to be found as genetic research continues..

And, as Margaret discovered, the environmental triggers that turn lupus potential into actual lupus are frequently food related. In Margaret’s case, the triggers were gluten and dairy.

Depending on one individual’s genetic variations the triggers could be different.

My research into polymorphisms was posted just days ago. If this has relevance for you or anyone you know, I encourage you to view that post here.